National Safety Week 4 – Distracted Driving

While safety is a topic that requires attention and focus every day and every second, National Safety Month in June is an ideal time to rally employees around a theme. By holding safety meetings with every member of your organization, you are placing emphasis on the importance of on and off the job safety.

The theme this week is Distracted Driving. Doing any activity that diverts a driver's attention away from his primary task of driving is distracted driving. Below is an article about the facts and dangers of distracted driving.

Distracted Driving

In 2014, 3,179 people were killed, and 431,000 were injured in motor vehicle crashes involving distracted drivers. With the increase of smartphone ownership among all age groups, texting, Facebook posting, tweeting and other social media usage have all increased drivers' distractions.

According to the National Occupant Protection Use Survey, "At any given daylight moment across America, approximately 660,000 drivers are using cell phones or manipulating electronic devices while driving, a number that has held steady since 2010." Your eyes are off the road for an average of five seconds while texting. If you are traveling at 55mph, you would have enough time to travel the length of a football field, according to Virginia Tech Transportation Institute.

Be a good passenger and speak out if the driver in my car is distracted.

Encourage my friends and family to drive phone-free.

Don't forget that cell phone use isn't the only cause of distracted driving. Other dangerous acts included reaching for objects in the car and gazing at passersby. Reaching for a moving object, such as an item falling, increased the risk of a crash by nine times. In addition, looking at something other than the roadway increases the risk of a crash 3.7 times, reading by 3.4 times, and applying makeup by 3 times.